


Unexpected Visitors

by Anonymous



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Cuddling & Snuggling, Diapers, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Little!Rami, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pacifiers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-11-08 17:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17985923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: When Rami’d text him the agreed-upon yellow star emoji, Joe had been kicking off his shoes and was ready to collapse on his bed watching shitty rom-coms until he fell asleep. The burst of energy he’d gotten had woken him right the fuck back up, and he’d texted back an immediate, “I’ll be right over” before gathering everything he needed and then almostforgettinghis shoes in his haste to book it to Rami’s trailer.(...He may havealsobeen needing a session.)





	1. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! uh, I've written stuff like this before, but I've always made separate accounts for them bc its easier than posting to anonymous I guess? but I don't feel like waiting a few days to post this so anonymous it is! also dedicated to Myworldofgayfanfiction and thorloser bc I really!! like their stories!! go read them they're really sweet! hopefully you two are reading this and will like it!
> 
> also this has a T rating and not a G one bc this is from joe's pov! and he has a potty mouth of an internal dialogue, according to me, as you can tell by the summary haha
> 
> um, the hurt/comfort tag applies for reasons you will read below. no one gets hurt!! but this has like. a plot? kind of? joe is a panic and rami is worried, even in littlespace, for a lil bit. there will be at least one more chapter to explain what happens later! it will all end happily don't worry! I just wanted to post this first bc I'm really proud of it haha. don't know when the next chapter will get done but it will at some point and all will be well! so please enjoy it!

They’d been trying to find the time to have a proper, well-deserved, day-long session since they’d started filming (since they’d both been _cast_ , more like), and nothing concrete had materialized yet. They didn’t have all that many days off in the first place, and the ones they _did_ have had too many obligations already scheduled into them to make it any kind of worthwhile to even try and attempt it.

And so, as a result, here they were: Joe entering Rami’s trailer after a long day of shooting, when the sun was already starting to set, with his bag of supplies over his shoulder. He was a bit annoyed that they’d had to resort to _this_ – trying to have a _good_ session in only a few short hours, after they were both tired from filming, instead of having an entire day to unwind and refresh themselves, but he didn’t let it show on his face. It wasn’t _Rami’s_ fault, after all. He needed a break every now and then as much as Joe did, and, with the way their schedules were lined up for the foreseeable future – _disappointing but not surprising_ – a short session was probably better than no session at all.

Joe closed the door behind him, set the bag down, and blindly took his shoes back off. His eyes were locked on Rami, who was sitting on the edge of his bed hunched over with his head bowed and his hands clutching the sheets on either side of him. His phone was lying untouched on the bedside table, and he could hear him breathing harshly from here.

“Hey, _hey_ , Rams, hey,” he said softly, moving over to cup Rami’s face in his hands and tilt his head up. His eyes blinked open, wet with tears, and his lips trembled. _Oh, Rami._ He must’ve needed to drop more than Joe’d thought. _Damnit, I should’ve been paying attention–_ “I’m here, buddy, I’m here, it’s okay.”

Rami hiccuped, moving one of his hands to wipe at his eyes. “Joey...”

“It’s okay, Rams, you’re okay,” Joe reassured him, grabbing his hand and tugging him gently to his feet, making sure to keep him steady. Rami was always even clumsier when he dropped.

He sniffled, wiped at his eyes again with his free hand, and leant on Joe heavily enough for him to almost have to take a step back, but he was able to keep his balance. “Don’ feel good...”

“Well, I can fix that right up, you can count on that,” Joe told him confidently, tugging on his hand again to lead him into the tiny bathroom Rami’s trailer had. It was about the size of a shoebox, honestly – certainly not big enough for two grown men to stretch out comfortably – but he was gonna make it work if it killed him. “How ‘bout a nice hot shower with some fancy bubbles, and then I’ll get you dressed in some pj’s and we can eat the cookies I brought over for dinner, and then we can watch The Princess and the Frog before it’s time for bed, huh?”

Rami nodded a little slowly, staring at Joe’s chest, before stuffing the tips of his fingers in his mouth to suck on. Seeing as it wasn’t his thumb, and Joe had (stupidly) left his pacifier in his bag, he let it go. ( _For now._ ) Rami still looked far too teary for his liking, so Joe made quick work of stripping him down and blowing a raspberry on his tummy when it was revealed, which was met with a quiet giggle, so _that_ was a relief.

Joe had to strip to join Rami in the shower, too, and it was a very, _very_ tight fit. Certainly not as much space as an actual tub would’ve afforded them, where Joe would’ve been able to kneel outside of it to wash him up. _Something else to put on the list: find a hotel room with a full bath._ Rami didn’t seem to mind _that_ so much as he did the fact that he had to _stand_ the whole time, so Joe had to have one arm wrapped around his waist to keep him upright while he scrubbed him down with the _fancy bubbles_. (It was just the honey and coconut body wash Rami kept in his bathroom that he only used when he wanted to make a good first impression, but it also happened to make the biggest bubbles that popped and floated the best out of the three soaps he owned, so. Fancy bubbles. _Rami_ liked them, anyway.) After Rami’s skin was pink from the wash cloth and squeaky clean, Joe moved on to his hair, shampooing, rinsing, and conditioning it just the way he knew he liked and making sure none of it got in his eyes. Rami leant into his chest and rested his cheek on his shoulder, almost nodding off as he did so, the way he always did when Joe washed his hair, and it was disgustingly adorable (the way it _always_ was). He felt a little bad about shaking him awake, but he _refused_ to let Rami fall asleep in this broom closet of a shower. Absolutely _not_.

Joe didn’t even bother actually washing himself off; he could do that later, when Rami was sound asleep. For now, he shut the water off, stuck his tongue out at him when it made him whine, made him giggle at the face he pulled when he did it, and got them both out and onto the bath mat so he could grab two of the fluffiest towels he could find out from under Rami’s sink. With no room to dry themselves properly in the bathroom, he lead a yawning Rami, who was rubbing at his eye with his fist, after him to towel him off in his trailer instead. He only had to pull his thumb away from his mouth once in the meantime (which, as far as he was concerned, was a win in his book), and took the opportunity to blow another raspberry on his tummy when it presented itself. He earned himself a delighted squeal for his trouble, this time, meaning Rami was no longer on the verge of tears, thank _god_ ; he couldn’t _stand_ when he cried, it was positively _heartbreaking_.

After towel-drying both of their hairs, Joe wrapped his around his waist and wrapped Rami’s around his shoulders to sit him back down on the edge of his bed. Rami bounced a little when he did, and giggled again, kicking his feet against the floor and wiggling his toes. Joe got his attention by tapping his cheek, smiling when Rami blinked wide eyes up at him. He didn’t really _want_ to ask – Rami had already dropped, after all, and he didn’t wanna pull him out of it, especially not for something as trivial as this – but, they had an agreement. “D’you think you’ll need a diaper tonight?”

Rami mouthed a silent, “oh” and ducked his head, biting his lower lip. His cheeks, pink from the shower, grew a little more flushed, this time from embarrassment. (Rami always got embarrassed when Joe brought it up, no matter how many times he did.) His hand moved away from his towel to his mouth, and Joe snatched it up before it got there, rubbing his thumb into his knuckles. He had a pacifier for a _reason_. “Um...” Rami mumbled. “...Y-yes. Just–just in case.”

“You got it, Rams,” Joe said simply, leaning forward to press a sloppy, wet kiss to Rami’s forehead and leave him squealing, half-thrilled and half-grossed out. It knocked him out of the embarrassed funk he was going to sink into, though, which was his goal all along, so Joe just grinned at him before grabbing his bag of supplies and setting it down on the bed. “Lie back for me, buddy.”

Rami obediently flopped back onto the mattress, wrapping the towel around him tighter as he stared at the ceiling. He was already starting to squirm, but Joe remedied that easily enough by pulling a certain something out of the bag and holding her out for him with a smug smile. “Look, Rami – it’s Cocoa!”

Rami gasped brightly, and immediately let go of the towel to make grabby-hands for the blue and white hammerhead shark plush. “Cocoa!” She was just a little longer than two feet, and they’d gotten her (and about three other stuffed animals, including a squid that Joe had claimed for himself, thank you very much, as well as about a million mugs, t-shirts, and other memorabilia) on the trip they’d taken to an aquarium together something like six years ago now. To Joe’s surprise, Cocoa the shark had become Rami’s favorite. She was always the one he asked for when he dropped, even though Joe probably had ten or so stuffed animals in his house that were actually technically _Rami’s_ , so Cocoa was the one Joe always made sure he had on hand.

Joe handed her over, and Rami snuggled into her well-worn fuzz with a hum. He was suitably distracted, now, babbling happily as he made the shark dance in the air for him, so it took all of two minutes to apply the baby powder and secure the diaper in place. After that, it was just a matter of wrestling his squirmy legs into some fluffy cookie monster sleep pants, his feet into a pair of thick green socks, and a soft striped t-shirt over his head. He probably could’ve put him in his baby blue duck-patterned footie pajamas, which were still neatly folded in the bag, but they were more fit for a day-long session, and these worked just as well at keeping him nice and cozy. (They were easier to change his diaper in, too.)

With Rami now dressed for the night and his attention still captured by Cocoa, Joe took the time to change into his own pajamas, some sweatpants and his own t-shirt. He cracked his back afterwards, and was just about to grab his phone to see about pulling up The Princess and the Frog when there was a knock at the trailer door.

Joe froze, staring at it, and saw Rami stop playing with Cocoa out of the corner of his eye. He took a moment to wonder who the hell would come knocking this late in the day – _what time was it? Six? Seven?_ – with no prior text or call or _anything_ before Rami sat up and whimpered. Joe turned to him fully to find him hugging Cocoa tight to his chest, eyes wide with fear. _Shit–_

“Hey, hey, it’s okay–“ Joe rushed to his side, trying to head off any tears that might well up. _He’d_ just _gotten him happy and comfortable, what the_ hell _, he was gonna give whoever was at the door a piece of his damn mind–_

Rami hiccuped, letting Joe kiss his forehead and cup his cheeks, but he was shaking like a leaf. Joe could tell he was down too deep to pull himself up just like _that_ , with absolutely no warning, and that meant he couldn’t talk to whoever it was because they’d _know_ – which was what was causing the fright: the idea of having this be revealed to someone without him _wanting it to be_. “I’ll tell them to go away, huh? You don’t have to worry about it, Rams, just leave everything to me – _I’m_ your big brother, remember? I’m in charge right now.”

Rami whimpered again, lifting a hand to rub at his eye, but he nodded anyway, and Joe felt himself sag a little in relief. “Good. Stay right here, buddy.” He pressed another kiss to his hairline and stood upright. “You have Cocoa; she’ll keep you company. I’ll only be a minute, I promise.” He wasn’t even gonna step outside, if he was being honest, but still.

Rami nodded again, and Joe turned on his heel, determined to get this over with as soon as possible. He reached the door in three strides and wretched it open just enough for his head to be visible, never so grateful for how Rami’s bed couldn’t be seen from that angle than right at this moment.

The duo on the other side made him blink in surprise. “ _Hi_...” he drew out, looking between Ben and Gwilym with a furrowed brow that they returned. They both looked confused. “What are you two doing here?”

Gwilym snorted a little. “We should be asking you the same thing, mate.”

Ben slapped his arm as Joe frowned. “We were going to get you next,” he explained. “Rami’s trailer was just closer. We’re having dinner together tonight, remember?”

Joe met this with a blank stare. He very much did not remember agreeing to dinner tonight at any point in the not-so-distant past.

Gwilym coughed to cover a laugh, and Ben rolled his eyes. “It was in our group chat? Rami found that Japanese place a few miles down the road? Like two weeks ago? The one with the lobster?”

... _Oh_ , yeah, that! “Oh!” Joe exclaimed. “Right! Uh...” He spared a glance to Rami, who had–

 _Put his thumb in his mouth, oh_ no _you don’t, you little–_ “Uh – _uh_ , gimme–gimme a second – _damnit_ –“ He stepped away from the door, bumping it closed with his hip as he moved over to Rami, who had the sense to look moderately chagrined, if not to _actually stop doing it_. “What have I told you about sucking your thumb?” he scolded, digging around in his bag of supplies for his pacifier. The pacifier he should’ve gotten out _ages_ ago, frankly. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Rami took his thumb out of his mouth and kicked his legs against the mattress, staring at the floor. “...Not to,” he grumbled. He didn’t sound on the verge of terrified tears anymore, which was a relief, but it meant he was wide awake, now, and Cocoa wasn’t gonna be enough to distract him.

“That’s right, _not to_ ,” Joe said, holding his pacifier out and watching his eyes light up. “It’s a bad habit, Rams, and you have a pacifier for a _reason_. Now open your mouth.” Rami did so obediently, and started sucking on it as soon as it was in place, looking immediately ten times as content as he did earlier. Joe sighed, looking at the door again. He didn’t wanna leave Ben and Gwil waiting for _too_ long, lest they get suspicious, but… “D’you want your coloring books?”

At that, Rami nodded happily, so Joe dug back into the bag, searching for his crayons. “Batman or Spiderman?” Joe asked, and Rami tapped his arm twice, so Spiderman it was. That book was already half-full, mostly with every color _but_ Spiderman’s famous red and blue, but hey, who was he to judge. Rami always liked to try and stay in the lines, too, which meant he’d be busy for however long it took for Joe to make up a believable lie and shoo Ben and Gwil off.

He pulled the book and box of crayons out, setting them on the bed so he could situate a giggly Rami up against the pillows and headboard. He had enough room to actually color, now that he wasn’t sitting on the edge of the mattress, and Rami dove right into it once everything was in his grasp. Joe left him there with another parting kiss to his hair, this time actually stepping out of the trailer and onto the steps leading into it so he could talk to Ben and Gwil properly. (He left the door open a few inches, though; it wouldn’t do for something to happen and him be unable to hear it. That would be a _disaster_.)

The looks on their faces were… odd. Not what he’d left them with, at least. _Shit, they probably had gotten suspicious._ He felt better about being taller than them on the steps, though. “So,” he began, putting his hands together. “Rami’s _sick_.” _Nailed it._

“Oh…kay?” Ben replied, not sounding the least bit convinced. Gwilym’s eyebrows actually raised in surprise, and he crossed his arms expectantly.

“No, really.” _Yeah, that’s gonna convince them. Damnit, you’re an actor, man._ “He got food poisoning. Or maybe he was allergic to something he had in his lunch today? He’s, uh, not a hundred percent on that – the specifics, I mean – but he’s been puking his guts up for the last hour, had to text me to come over to make sure he wasn’t dying or something. Honestly, it might even just be a stomach bug, but he’s definitely not gonna be able to go out tonight, and I’m staying over to make sure he stays hydrated.” A pause, during which Ben and Gwilym exchanged unreadable looks with one another and Joe started to sweat just a bit on the back of his neck.

He cleared his throat. “You two can go out for all of us, right? Bring us back something? I know Rami was really excited about the lobster…” He was gonna be pissed tomorrow when he found out he’d missed it, but its not like the restaurant was going anywhere any time soon. They’d find the time to go at some point. (Sooner rather than later, if Joe knew him as well as he thinks he does. Which, he does.)

“Um…” Ben pursed his lips a little and cocked his head, putting his hands together the way Joe’s were as Gwil shifted uncertainly on his feet. “You, uh. You–you know you can tell us anything. Right?”

A beat of silence passed where Joe cocked his head right back. “… _Yes_ …?” he said eventually, unsure where Ben was trying to go with this. “You – what, do you think we’re together or something?” Ben’s eyes closed, and he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as Joe continued, “I mean, I know it looks a little suspicious, me answering his door and all, but if we were we wouldn’t try and _hide it_ from you guys–“

“We _heard_ you,” Gwil blurted out, making Ben immediately whip around to punch his arm and hiss at him. “In Rami’s trailer, I mean. _Talking_ to Rami, I mean. You, er, didn’t, uh, close the door, completely. Um…”

Joe felt something in his chest grow very, very cold, and suddenly _anger and betrayal_ had overridden _fear and caution_ as the most prominent emotion in his body. “You were _eavesdropping?_ ” His voice came out very venomously, and it made both of them wince. _Good._

Ben spoke up as Gwil’s head ducked so he could stare at the ground, wringing his wrists; “It’s – we don’t _care_ , Joe!”

“ _Don’t care?_ What d’you _mean_ you _don’t care?!_ ” Joe was making a conscious effort to keep from shouting. It wouldn’t do for someone to overhear their conversation – or, worse, for _Rami_ to overhear it. _That_ thought made Joe suck in a sharp breath and let it out between clenched teeth.

“I _mean_ it’s not like we’re going to make fun of him or anything!” Ben exclaimed, throwing his arms out. “For god’s sake, he’s our friend, too!”

Joe’s mouth opened, either to tell them off more or – or just tell them to get lost because he was _not_ doing this right now (or _ever_ ), but he was interrupted by Rami calling from inside the trailer behind him, “ _Jo-ey!_ ”

That stopped everyone in their tracks, and Joe threw his head over his shoulder to look at the door. Rami didn’t sound urgent, like he’d been hurt – more fussy than anything, actually – but… _Shit, how long had he been out here? He said he’d only be a minute!_

He turned back to Ben and Gwil, finding them staring at the door guiltily, and glared. The anger he felt was melting away at the reminder that he had a certain someone he owed his undivided attention the rest of the night, but it was still _there_. Oh, it was definitely still there. _I can’t believe they fucking_ eavesdropped _. What is_ Rami _gonna say tomorrow? Oh,_ oh _, no, fear and panic coming back–_ “We are finishing this tomorrow,” he got out between gritted teeth.

“Joe–“ Ben began, but Joe just raised a hand to quiet him, and his mouth shut with a click.

“ _We are finishing this tomorrow_ ,” he repeated, looking between the two of them expectantly. “ _I_ am not the one you should be talking to about this, and the one you _should_ be is going to be _very unavailable_ until tomorrow morning at the _least_. Is that understood?” It wasn’t really a question, but Joe got a quick nod from Gwilym and a much more reluctant nod from Ben anyway. “Good. Now _go_. Maybe _actually go to dinner_ , as a matter of fact; I know Rami wouldn’t mind getting some leftovers, if you two’re buying.”

They both snorted, at that, and Joe left them exchanging looks with each other again as he moved into the trailer, shutting the door firmly behind him. (He may have also locked it for good measure. No more goddamn surprises tonight; not on his watch.)

Rami immediately bounced up and down on the mattress, waving his arms out for him and interrupting what Joe was sure would’ve been a good, long, hard brood. Cocoa and his pacifier were laying in his lap, on top of, from what he could see, the coloring book and about a dozen crayons, one of which was broken. “Joey, Joey, Joey!” he chanted, and Joe felt most of the negative emotions clinging to him leave in the next breath at seeing Rami so obviously upbeat and pleased to see him again. He chuckled as he reached his side, pulling him into a hug. Rami hummed happily, nuzzling into his shoulder until Joe pulled back to kiss his temple, which earned him a giggle.

“Hey, buddy, sorry I took so long,” Joe apologized guiltily, ruffling his hair. “It was Ben and Gwil; you know how _those_ two are.”

Rami giggled again, squirming in Joe’s arms. “Si’wy!”

“Yes, they’re both very silly,” Joe agreed, feeling the rest of his anger leave him in a rush as he sat down across from him and started cleaning up the crayons. The panic was still there, on the backburner, close enough that he knew it would probably come back to bite him as soon as Rami was asleep, but he very deliberately ignored it for now. “So what did you need, short-stuff? Did you just wanna see my _beautiful_ face?” He punctuated this by batting his eyelashes at him, and Rami squealed with laughter, clapping his hands.

“Cookie, Joey!”

“That’s _right_ , I promised you some cookies, didn’t I?” Joe said, stuffing the crayons back in the box and grabbing the coloring book to put back in his bag of supplies. He then started digging around in it for said oatmeal raisin treats he’d grabbed from his trailer before he’d left. They were Rami’s favorite. “I’ve got a bottle of milk in here for you, too, buddy – the perfect combination, of course.”

Rami grinned at him brightly, eyes squinting with joy, and he squealed again when the cookies were brought into his line of sight, making grabby hands for them. “Ah, ah, ah,” Joe scolded, holding them away from him, earning him a pout. “You know the rules. What do you say?”

Rami’s tongue peeked out of his mouth in thought. He took a few moments to respond, and, when he did, it was with a gasp. “P-pwease?”

“Good boy!” Joe praised, leaning forward to kiss his cheek and get him to giggle. “Now, I’m gonna get you a paper plate so you don’t get crumbs all over Cocoa, hm?” Using Cocoa as a means to keep Rami from making a mess always worked better than using, say, Rami’s clothes or Rami’s bed.

Rami nodded rapidly to show he understood, and Joe was back in no time, letting Rami pick Cocoa up so the plate could take her place. Joe picked his pacifier up himself, making a note to wash it off, before he opened the bag of cookies he still had in his hand to dump half of them onto the plate. He’d brought over ten, so he had no problem with Rami eating five of them for dinner and him having the other five. Usually, when they had day-long sessions, Joe was able to take the time to actually _cook_ , but this would have to do for now; there was no way he was going to try and run to craft services and back with two meals tonight - especially considering he’d already left Rami alone for too long as it was, as far as he was concerned.

He started bouncing again in excitement once they were within range, making a delighted noise in the back of his throat as he snuggled into Cocoa, and Joe laughed. “Dig in, bud. I’m gonna heat up your bottle.” Rami didn’t need anymore encouragement.

Heating up the bottle of milk he’d had secured in the bag just-so to keep from spilling didn’t take very long, and Joe was able to watch Rami as the seconds counted down on the microwave on the other side of the trailer. He was very careful not to get crumbs anywhere but the plate, but he did share each bite he took with Cocoa, pressing the cookie to her sewn-on sharp-toothed mouth until she was apparently satisfied and he would take his next bite and then repeat the process. He was back at his side in no time, the bottle warm but not hot, and climbed in beside him – though, that didn’t last for long, because as soon as he started to join him Rami was scooting over to make room, and then clambering into his lap to cuddle up, cookies almost forgotten in his quest to take Joe’s attention all for himself.

Almost.

Joe laughed, keeping the bottle straight in one hand and using the other to rearrange Rami in his lap more comfortably for both of them while Rami whined pitifully, trying to grab for the plate of cookies that had moved out of reach with the hand that wasn’t holding Cocoa. “Bottle first, buddy, come on.” Rami seemed to have forgotten about the promised bottle, as he immediately perked up at the word and turned to him with wide eyes. Joe held it up for him to see, and Rami gasped, reaching for it. Joe, knowing he’d be too clumsy to be able to hold it himself without spilling at least a little, lowered it to his mouth for him, keeping his hand on it, and Rami latched onto it and started sucking it down the moment he could. His eyelids drooped, and he cuddled into Joe’s chest further, resting his head on his shoulder.

Joe gently pulled the bottle away from him once it was half empty, and Rami whimpered, eyes opening fully to stare at it as it was set on the bedside table and squirming. “Hey, you still got some cookies to eat, bud, you can’t finish your bottle _now_.”

Rami let out an, “ooh!” as he remembered that he did, in fact, have cookies left to eat (two, in fact), and Joe chuckled again, shifting so Rami was properly settled with Cocoa in his arms and his legs folded up under him. It was just the right position to feed him. He leaned over to pick up one of the cookies. “Open wide, Ram-Ram, its coming right for you!” He made a falling sound effect, making Rami squeal with laughter, before bringing the cookie to his mouth and letting him take a big bite. As he was chewing, Joe pressed the cookie to Cocoa’s mouth, too, which got him exactly the giggles he was hoping for, and he grinned at him.

He got Rami to finish the rest of the cookies in no time, and, after the bottle was empty as well, Rami let out such a big burp that Joe actually said, "whoa!" out loud in surprise and Rami giggled so hard he nearly tipped himself out of Joe's lap. With the plate and bottle on the bedside table, Joe rearranged them again so they were lying down under the covers, Joe on his back and Rami on his side. He wouldn’t be lasting long, now; he was already letting out tiny little squeaky yawns that were just the cutest thing he’d ever heard and snuggling up under Joe’s chin, hugging Cocoa tight. He brought up The Princess and the Frog on his phone, anyway, kissing his forehead and running his fingers through his hair and up and down his back.

Rami was out cold and snoring delicately into Joe’s shirt in ten minutes.

Joe, who had been planning on finishing his shower as Rami slept, couldn’t very well try and slip away _now_. That would be just plain _rude_ , leaving Rami there all by himself with no one to cuddle. (Well. He had Cocoa, but Joe liked to think he was a better cuddler than her, thank you very much.) So, instead, he settled in to watch the movie himself, humming along quietly to the musical numbers and finding himself starting to drift off just as Tiana and Prince Naveen were getting married, even though it was only something like nine o’clock or so.

 _Aw well._ That was fine with him; he’d have a big breakfast to make up for not eating dinner tonight, he decided, shutting his phone off and setting it beside Rami’s before settling in. Rami snuffled into his shirt again as he shifted, and Joe shushed him softly, kissing his temple. “Sleepy time for Joey, buddy,” he mumbled, closing his eyes.

 _He_ was out cold and snoring a bit louder into Rami’s hair in _five_ minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I couldn't stand to have joe worrying the whole night about everything, so I made him get distracted by the movie enough to forget about it just long enough to go to sleep. he's probably gonna kick himself the next day, tho...poor guy)
> 
> tell me what you think so far!!


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rami, Ben, and Gwil have a little conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you don't technically have to read this to understand the rest of the fic, its just for some more context. you can skip right to the next chapter if you don't particularly want to read about rami being uncomfortable and scared for a few thousand words. its all resolves, obviously, but y'know. some people don't like to read that kind of thing and I understand
> 
> (this was also finished about a week after I first published this but bc I knew some pople wouldn't particularly LIKE to have to read this I decided to wait until it was all finished - and wrote two more chapters in the process and reached 17k words! jeez louise man)

Rami, an early riser by nature, found himself waking up before the sun has even _considered_ passing over the horizon for the day. He hummed as he swum into consciousness, rubbing at his eyes with one hand and nuzzling into the warm thing under his cheek. As much as his body was ready and raring for the day ahead, already buzzing, Rami wanted nothing more than to stay right where he was for the foreseeable future.

_Sigh._

He rolled onto his back and sat up with a quiet groan, stretching his arms high above his head to satisfyingly crack his spine. Blinking his eyes open and trying to see in the pre-dawn light peeking through the blinds, he discovered the warm thing beside him was actually _Joe_. _Oh, yeah._ That explained why he felt so energetic this morning. Last night came back to him and bits and pieces, then. He didn’t usually remember a lot about what happened during sessions aside from an all-encompassing sense of contentment and bubbling happiness, and this time was no exception. He vaguely recalled Ben and Gwil being mentioned at some point? And oatmeal raisin cookies. _Nice._ Not the best dinner, maybe, but hey. Little-him’d sure as hell enjoyed them.

Cocoa, who had fallen into his lap once he’d sat up, was gingerly placed back into Joe’s bag of goodies at the foot of the mattress before Rami nimbly climbed around Joe to get off the bed. The man in question just grunted and shifted to curl himself into a ball in the warm spot he’d left behind, and Rami let out a fond huff, scratching the back of his neck as he grabbed some day clothes and moved into the bathroom.

Good news: the diaper had apparently been unnecessary. Rami threw it out as soon as he could and was in and out of the shower in five minutes tops, having decided that washing his hair could wait. He was in the middle tucking his pajamas from last night back in Joe’s bag as the man continued to snore when his phone pinged. An uncommon occurrence, this early in the day, since most of the people who knew he was a morning person found it _positively heinous_ that he was a morning person, but it wasn’t unheard of. He found himself instantly curious.

He picked it up and looked at the screen. _Ben?_ Hm. He was almost as bad as Joe when it came to sleeping in. The curiosity ramped itself up a few notches.

The text itself wasn’t surprising in the least, though: “Hey you’re up right?”

Rami snorted. “Why yes Benjamin, as a matter of fact I am. Why?” He then grabbed the empty bottle and the pacifier off the bedside table and brought them over to the tiny sink he had next to his microwave to wash them while he waited for Ben’s response. Whatever it was, it _had_ to be good.

“Want to come over for breakfast? Gwil got those croissants from that cafe down the street you like.”

Ben _and_ Gwil? And a _bribe?_ Oh, this _definitely_ had to be good. He couldn’t resist trying to squeeze some more information out of him, however. (Not that he expected to get it; Ben could be a steel trap when he wanted to be.) “Sure. May I ask what you two could possibly be doing up right now?”

Ben’s response didn’t come until after he’d finished washing the bottle and pacifier and was putting them back in Joe’s bag; “Is Joe there?”

Rami’s eyebrow quirked. “Yeah. He’s asleep.” Joe had spoken with them outside last night, right? That must be why they knew he was here... He waited a few beats after sending that to ask again, “Why?”

Another minutes-long pause, during which Rami, having nothing else to tidy up, decided now would be as good a time to leave as any, and started tugging on his shoes. “We want to talk to you by yourself is all.” Both of Rami’s eyebrows rose, this time. He was interrupted before he could finish typing his response; “Nothing bad!! But you know how Joe is.”

Rami snorted again, opening the door and stepping out into the cool morning air. “He’s going to be out at least until the sun is up anyway. I’m on my way.”

“K.” And that was that.

Whilst jogging the rest of the way to Ben’s trailer, Rami sent Joe a text saying, “If you see this before I’m back I’m at Ben’s for breakfast. We’re having croissants so don’t wait up.” This was punctuated with a kissy face emoji that he knew would make Joe scowl, because there was only one thing Joe loved more than grossly syrup-saturated pancakes, and that was a good buttery croissant. He’d be pissed when he realized he missed them. _Rami_ certainly wasn’t gonna save him any.

(Well. He might save him _one_. Payback for the oatmeal raisin cookies, he justified to himself. His memories may not be a hundred percent clear, but he _knew_ they’d been delicious.)

Ben’s trailer wasn’t exactly far away, so Rami got there in less than a minute. He wasn’t even able to raise his hand to knock on the door before Ben was swinging it open for him.

“Hey!” he greeted, giving him a tight smile before shifting to the side to let him in. Rami sent him a look, the question of what the hell this could be about barging to the forefront of his mind once again as Ben shut the door behind him. Gwil was sat at the tiny table Ben had near his own microwave, smothering a half a croissant with strawberry jam with utmost precision. He spared Rami a grunt to show he knew he was there, and Rami fondly shook his head. How any of his coworkers were able to function in the morning without a gallon of caffeine was an enigma. He shuffled over to drop into one of the empty stools situated around the table and grabbed his own croissant. The lack of a solid dinner last night was catching up to him, and he found himself scarfing two of them down without more than a sip of water before he grabbed his third much more leisurely. (This was met with a snicker courtesy of Ben, who was dunking _his_ into a cup of steaming coffee, so he had no room to judge.)

“So,” he finally managed to say, tearing the pastry apart so he could spread some margarine on it. “Why exactly are you bribing me with croissants, you two?”

Gwil, who had spent the last few minutes scrolling through social media on his phone instead of eating the cooling half of bread in his hand, decided now was a perfect time to stuff the whole thing in his mouth so he wouldn’t have to speak. As it turned out, this was _kind of a bad idea_ (who knew), and Rami watched him deadpan as he tried to chew it all.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben pinch the bridge of his nose. “We already agreed I was going to be doing most of the talking, Gwil,” he said, put upon, and Gwil, who was still chewing, just made a gesture as if to say ‘well, go on, then’, which made Ben roll his eyes, but he sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat.

“Um.” He tapped the fingers of his free hand on the table and cocked his head, staring at the plate he had in front of him rather than looking Rami in the eye. “We… went to your trailer last night...”

“...I’m aware,” Rami said slowly when Ben didn’t seem to know how to continue, taking a bite of his croissant before it got cold and then occupying his hands by spreading more margarine on it.

“You are?”

That was Gwil, sounding surprised and apparently having swallowed his croissant-half, and Rami raised an eyebrow at him. Gwil’s own were furrowed. “Joe told me you came over,” he explained with a shrug, taking another bite. “Not the specifics, but still.” He kind of been _distracted_ , after all, and it wasn’t like he’d been _trying_ to hear what they’d been talking about outside. It hadn’t been his problem.

It seemed to be his problem _now_ , though, with Ben and Gwil looking between one another like that.

“ _Go on_ ,” he told them insistently, and Ben cleared his throat again.

“Right. Um. _Well_ , we had, er, originally come over because we were supposed to go to dinner together...”

...Oh, _damnit_. Rami groaned, raising a hand to rub his forehead. “Damnit,” he said out loud, a bit sulkily, and kicked a foot into the floor with a frown. “I was really looking forward to that.” Was he pouting? It felt like he was pouting. He made an effort to stop by taking another bite of his croissant. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

Well. He _could_ believe he forgot, because he’d been so full of anxious energy the whole damn day yesterday he’d nearly broken down in the makeup chair after filming. Honestly, he was lucky he’d managed to text Joe when he had, or he might’ve dropped on his own, which would’ve been a _nightmare_. He’d pushed himself too far for too long and paid the price by missing out on the damn lobster dish he’d been looking forward to for the last two weeks. _Fuck, man._ He definitely wasn’t doing _that_ shit again. _Regular drops from now on, dumbass. Especially since Joe is_ literally _only a minute or two away at any time._

“We bought you the lobster thing, Rami, don’t worry.” Gwil sounded far too amused for his liking, and Rami sent him a short glare that had him trying not to grin.

“We have a million leftovers, actually,” Ben clarified, pointing a thumb to his mini-fridge. “Joe told us to go wild, since you two weren’t coming with. Said something about you appreciating _not having to pay for it?_ ”

Rami couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped him, at that, and finished off his first half of croissant to start on the other. “Well, that might be true. I _do_ love a free meal.” He let the ensuing comfortable silence go on for a few seconds, during which Ben finished off his own croissant, which had grown soggy from being dipped in his coffee so much ( _disgusting_ ) and Gwil picked up another to start smearing with more jam, before he broke it; “But that’s not why you wanted to talk to me, is it?”

It came out more as a statement than a question, and the way both of them tensed up at his words meant he was right. “I’m pretty sure talking about the dinner I missed last night isn’t something Joe wouldn’t be invited to.”

Gwil opened his mouth, then, probably to make a smart remark, but Ben shut him up by kicking him under the table and making him wince. “We, er, o-overheard, um, you – and Joe – um, yesterday, and–“

A stone dropped into his gut. “Overheard _what?_ ” Rami barked. There was panic starting to seize his throat, squeezing like a vice, and he could already tell that this conversation – _confrontation? Is that what this is now?_ – was either going to disintegrate into furious shouting or an outright panic attack, and probably sooner rather than later. A thousand outcomes were running through his head and none of them were good.

“Please don’t be mad,” Gwil implored in a small voice, and before he could open his mouth to say something along the lines of _I’m a little fucking mad right now, actually, Gwil_ , Ben blurted out, “We want to help!”

Which.

Uh.

Was… a little unexpected.

Okay, a _lot_ unexpected.

“You what?” Rami said, his voice coming out croaky and soft, and the panic lessened a bit due to utter _confusion_.

Ben was rambling, now, in an attempt to explain himself, though he and Gwil were still avoiding eye contact; “We, er – Joe, he said we should ask you about it, said it wasn’t his place, so we did – we _are_ – um, but we also… googled it? At dinner last night–“

“You _what?_ ” _Oh my god._ Rami didn’t even wanna _think_ about the misinformation they must’ve come across during _that_ adventure.

“We _just_ – we don’t want you to be uncomfortable, with us, now that we know. And we wanna help. Get involved, a-and stuff.”

“...So you _googled_ it.”

“Well we couldn’t _ask you!_ L-last night, anyway. You were, er...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Indisposed? Google said its called a – ‘little-space’? That’s what it’s called, right?” he addressed Gwil, half under his breath, who nodded back.

Rami, whose fist had crushed the rest of his croissant into mush during Ben’s speech, dropped it onto his plate with a quiet thunk. He then equally quietly grabbed a napkin and wiped his hand off, trying to get rid of the grease and not totally succeeding. His eyes stayed locked on Ben, who was now staring at the tabletop and shifting uneasily, and he spared a glance to Gwil, who was in the exact same position. “And what about _you?_ ” he asked him sharply, watching him jump and raise his eyes to look at him for a split second before turning back to the table.

“I – well, I mean, I wanna help, _too_ – I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I just – you-you know how I get when I’m nervous, I blather on and on and I have no filter, say the wrong thing. I didn’t – I-I don’t want to… drive you off. Neither of us do.” He paused. “We really _do_ wanna help, Rami.”

Rami sucked in a slow breath and let it out. There was still a knot of nerves in his stomach, but it had shrunk in size. He wasn’t in a state of jaw-clenching panic anymore, which was nice, but... “Do you even know what you want to help _with?_ What you’re _agreeing_ to help with? I mean, Joe and I have been doing this for, like...” _Ha, holy shit._ “Nine or ten years by now.”

“Really? That long?”

Rami sent Ben a look that had him defensively raising his hands. “We started it on The Pacific. It was...” He looked away and shrugged, rubbing his arms. “I needed… I needed something to knock me out of that mindset. We _both_ did. The shoot was so… Stressful’s not the right word. Heavy? Overwhelming. I broke down, more than once, over fake corpses, because they looked so real, because I was violating them, taking their teeth, a-and...”

He let out a full-body shudder, worrying his bottom lip. Ben and Gwil were silent. “I couldn’t keep doing it, not without something to ground me, to remind me that it wasn’t real, that I was just playing a part, and Joe – on one of our days off, Joe pulled me into his trailer and he had all this… It was just a pile of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals that he’d arranged on his bed, and he had footed pajamas for us to wear, and we watched disney movies the whole day, and it was… perfect. It wasn’t – it didn’t _start out_ as a-a-age play – Joe actually told me he’d just wanted to surround us with the softest, fluffiest, nicest shit he could find that would just be, like, the complete opposite of this violent bloody mess we were filming day in and day out, and it _worked_ , so we… kept doing it. And it turned into this-this new thing, where I wouldn’t have to think about anything more serious than ‘oh, I’m hungry’ or ‘oh, I wanna play with _that_ ’ for a little while, and Joe, provider that he is, could take care of someone else and be someone they relied on. It was a really natural transition, actually, and it _helped_. A _lot_.

“And it just… escalated. I… kept feeling smaller and smaller, every time we’d do it, every time I’d _drop_ , and suddenly we needed, um, m-more things.” Diapers, for one. The _incident_ that led up to the decision to use them during sessions still made Rami squirm with humiliation when he thought back on it, even though Joe’d never seemed bothered by it. “Joe was the one who did all the–“ He snorted a little, here. “–‘research’, I guess, about-about what to do, what to get, if it would be any different than dealing with an actual, u-um… b-b-baby. A-and we kept doing it because we needed that… escape, that space, even after shooting wrapped, both of us. Joe would come over or I’d go over to his place every few months or so, whenever we both had the time. Joe insisted on it, actually; any excuse to get me to relax, as far as he was concerned. Lord knows he calls me a workaholic every goddamn day as it is,” came out drily and was accompanied by rolled eyes that had his audience humming in agreement, and Rami made a face at them. They both looked contemplative, which was worlds better than the disgust he’d been afraid of seeing, but– “You’re not supposed to _agree with him!_ ”

Gwil snorted, taking a bite of his almost-forgotten croissant, and Ben raised an eyebrow at him. He wasn’t smirking, but it was a close thing. “Rami, you are one of the single most dedicated, hard-working people I’ve ever met. If anyone needs a break from being an adult, it’s _you_.”

Rami opened his mouth, not sure what he was gonna say but knowing it was probably going to involve telling him off for giving him such a backhanded compliment, but it clicked shut again as he felt his cheeks grow hot. “I – _well_ , I–“

“Just take the compliment, mate,” Gwil said with a chuckle, and Rami huffed, rubbing at his cheek. He was still, traitorously, blushing.

“It makes sense, though, doing it for stress relief,” Ben mused to himself, tapping his chin. “Let someone take care of you, let someone else be in control for once, not have the weight of the world on your shoulders for a while, that kind of thing.”

“I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders, Ben,” Rami said flatly, trying not to sound condescending but giving him a look that probably seemed that way, and Gwil shrugged.

“No, but there’s a lot of things about the film that probably _make_ you feel that way.”

“Please don’t list them out,” Rami groaned, and Gwil raised his hands in an ‘as you wish’ gesture.

“But really, Rami, we _want_ to be involved,” Ben told him, getting back on track. When Rami frowned, already thinking up arguments, he continued, “ _Really_. Nothing’s gonna scare us off.”

Rami bit the inside of his cheek, wringing his wrists. He was willing to believe it, after spilling his guts like that and having them take it to heart (even with the gentle teasing), but… “I just...” He swallowed. “You’re my _friends_ – _and_ my coworkers. I’ve known Joe for over a _decade_ , now; it’s different with him, especially since he’s the one I started this with, and the only one who knows… Aside from you two, now, I guess. I don’t want it to change anything–“

“It _won’t_ , Rami–“

“ _And I don’t want you to react badly_ ,” he spoke over Ben. “When we have the rest of the movie to do and I’d have to interact with you everyday. Google or not, most people would probably be freaking out at least a little in your shoes, even without being there in person. I...” He shook his head. “I’m… grateful, that you’re not, I dunno, threatening to blackmail me or something–“

“We wouldn’t!” they both said, in tandem, so fervently that Rami had no problem believing them. Gwil even followed it up with, “And I’ll kill anyone who tries!” which got Rami to smile, at least. _That’s_ one _worry put to rest._

“Rami, we watched _videos_ ,” Ben said, leaning forward to making his point. “And those were with _strangers_. I very much doubt seeing someone we _actually care about_ in that kind of headspace will turn us off the idea, I hate to break it to you.”

...Oh.

“Un-unless you want us to? Not get involved, I mean.” Ben looked nervous again, now. “I mean, we _did_ kind of spring it on you out of nowhere – if you’re not comfortable with it we’re not gonna _force you_ or anything, we just – we just thought–“ He was, touchingly, trying to be reassuring, but all Rami could hear was…

...Disappointment.

... _Oh_.

He was… they were actually serious. Like, actually tangibly serious. Like, they had actually put in the time to look stuff up and learn what they could and still decided after all that that they wanted to be a part of it. That they would _like_ to be a part of it. With _Rami_. That they would be _disappointed_ to not be, now that they _knew_.

They weren’t joking, or fooling around, or-or mocking him, they were _serious_.

“No, that’s–“ He cut himself off, his voice coming out a bit rough due to his suddenly dry throat, and he blinked against the feeling of his eyes starting to burn. “That’s. Fine. That’s fine. That’s more than fine.”

“Are you sure?” That was Gwil, sounding _un_ sure, and Rami saw his lips dip into a concerned frown. “You don’t have to try and placate us, Rami, you can tell us no–“

“No, I–“ He giggled, a little high-pitched, and rubbed at his cheek. He was starting to smile and couldn’t seem to stop, and the stone in his stomach seemed to have finally dissolved into a blossom of warmth that left him positively _giddy_.

Who knew having someone else to share this with so openly would leave him feeling like _this?_

“I-I’d… I’d like that. I’d like for you to be involved.” And as he said it, and as Ben and Gwil just about sagged with relief, he realized it was true. Lord knows, if he was this happy about the mere prospect of a session with them present _now_ , then little-him would be absolutely _thrilled_ when the time for it finally came along. I mean, new playmates? In the form of his _friends_ , and not just new stuffed animals? He wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

“Well, good,” Gwil said brightly, offering him a grin that he readily returned. “Because we already started looking at stuff to buy you– _ow!_ ”

“You’re not supposed to _tell him that!_ ” Ben hissed, having clearly kicked him under the table again, from how Gwil was bending to rub at his shin with a grimace.

Gwil shot something back under his breath that had Ben huffing indignantly, but Rami found himself laughing and trying not to bounce excitedly in his seat. “I’m fine with being told!” he said, making Gwil stick his tongue out at Ben, who rolled his eyes. “That’s… really sweet of you.” They definitely didn’t _have_ to buy him anything – Joe had a practical treasure trove of toys he used during their sessions, although they were practically all at his house right now – but the idea that they’d even _considered_ getting him anything at all, before they’d even spoken to him about it, made his thoughts turn soft around the edges, the way they did when he was just starting to drop.

He put an immediate stop to it and coughed into his fist. They had a day of filming ahead and as much as Ben and Gwil’d just assured him that they wouldn’t mind, they probably didn’t mean _at this moment_ , without Joe, who had much more experience, to rely on for back-up and cues.

Oh, god. He was gonna have to tell _Joe_.

That knocked him out of his headspace in two seconds flat, but the underlying sense of contentment remained. “What time is it?”

“Uh...” Gwil trailed off, looking at his phone. “Seven.”

“I should probably go wake up Joe, then,” Rami said, getting to his feet and cracking his neck. “He’ll need an hour just to wake up enough to put his costume on without tripping over himself as it is; he needs as much help as he can get.”

That had Gwil snickering, and Rami snatched up the rest of the croissants (of which there were only three and a half) to bring with him. He may have also stuffed the one half there was into his mouth because he was still hungry, but that was neither here nor there.

“Wait, wait!” Ben said before he could bother taking a step towards the door, and he stood and moved to the mini-fridge to rummage around. “Take your leftovers; they’re taking up vital space in my beloved fridge.”

Rami rolled his eyes, but was able to finish chewing by the time Ben had removed the one bag of leftovers from his fridge and helped him grab onto it securely with his free hand. “Thank you _so_ much, Benjamin.”

“You’re _so_ welcome, Rami,” Ben said back just as sarcastically as he opened the door for him, and Rami left the trailer with Gwil’s continued snickers at his back and a warm buzzing in his chest that left him feeling almost weightless.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day has finally arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is where the good stuff starts. this and the next chapter are basically almost ALL fluff

Joe snorted awake to the sound of a door closing. He raised a heavy hand to rub at his eyes, nearly slapped himself in the face in the process, then rolled onto his side away from the too-bright sunlight desperately trying to blind him with a grunt.

This was met with laughter from a very familiar voice, and he squinted his eyes open to find Rami, standing by the door with–

He gasped, and immediately started to get up – as clumsily as his movements were, with his legs tangled in the sheets. “You got me _croissants_.”

Rami grinned at him cheekily from where he stood with the three pastries in question. “Technically, _Gwil_ got you croissants. Ben invited me over for breakfast, and I got the leftovers they bought for us last night, too.” He held up the (fairly large and full) bag he had in his _other_ hand that Joe genuinely hadn’t noticed until that moment.

It was also at that moment that the entirety of last night came back to him.

Including the confrontation he’d had with their two co-actors.

If he could see himself from the outside, he probably would’ve described himself as having paled considerably at the reminder, and he sucked in a sharp breath as he finally managed to force himself to his feet. “Rami, I–“

“ _Relax_ ,” Rami told him firmly, setting the bag of leftovers on the floor so he could move over and shove him back down to sit on the edge of the bed. “Eat your croissants.” He held them up, and Joe sighed, aggravated, but took them anyway.

“Rami–“

“We had a nice, long, informative talk while you were snoring away in my bed, Sleeping Beauty,” Rami continued, sounding perfectly unbothered as he picked the leftovers back up to start packing them into his mini-fridge. “They said they’d like to come to a session.”

Joe very nearly dropped the goddamn croissants. “They _what?_ ”

“Like I said: a nice, long, _informative_ talk.” He was quiet for a few moments as Joe tried to find anything to say that wasn’t just the word ‘what’ again. He knew he was gaping like a fish at Rami’s back and, quite simply, couldn’t bring himself to give a single shit. “Did you know they _googled age play_ at the restaurant last night?”

Joe really _did_ drop the croissants, this time. “They _WHAT?!_ ”

–

Three weeks had passed by the time the day off they’d agreed on arrived, and by then they had all (thank god) managed to rearrange and reschedule an entire day’s worth of obligations so all four of them could be present for it. This was done with, frankly, a lot of manipulation on their parts by just straight up lying to their agents about how there was something going around on set and they just felt _so_ awful, they haven’t been able to keep anything down for _days_ , there was simply no _way_ they’d be able to attend that gala or that fashion show, can’t we just do that interview or that photo shoot next week instead? Pretty please?

The good news was, they were all great actors.

The bad news was, Gwil was a _fucking panic_.

“Are you sure we’ve got everything? You’ve double-checked the bags, right? We have–“

“Gwil, I’ve _quadruple-checked the bags_ ,” Ben told him very firmly, forcing himself between Gwil and the bags in question so he wouldn’t rummage through them for the fifth time that hour. “If you keep messing with them we really _will_ forget something, so stop. _Fussing_.”

“I-I know, I _know_ , I just...” Gwil sighed heavily, and seemed to sag as his head fell into his hands. “I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

Ben sighed, as well. The bags (the ones that _didn’t_ hold their sleepwear and toiletries) were full of the things they’d bought for Rami specifically for this – things they’d bought with Joe’s input, after setting up a group chat between just the three of them. They’d been using it to ask how to make sure they didn’t make either of them uncomfortable on the day of.

Which was, you know, _today_.

All they had to do was pack everything into Gwil’s car and drive to the hotel. That’s all they had to do. They’d had dinner with them last night and they’d both seemed as excited as they were to have them there, but… well… Ben wasn’t afraid to say that he was just as worried about making a good impression as Gwil was. Rami’d admitted that he wasn’t sure _how_ he’d react to new people while in littlespace, since it’d been only him and Joe for ten years now, after all, hence, uh, the worry. About the gifts.

Maybe it was a little like bribery, but, hey. It was what people did for actual babies, right? Give them sweets, stuff like that?

(Not that they _had_ sweets. Joe had _forbidden_ sweets. Something about Rami being a right terror on a sugar rush… They hadn’t asked for details.)

Ben shook his head to clear it and nudged at Gwil’s arm. “Come on; we’ll be late if we wait any longer.”

That had Gwil’s eyes going wide and him rushing to round everything up, likely more anxious about being late than leaving something behind, now. Ben met this with a snort that had Gwil squawking indignantly.

–

Rami’d just disappeared into the bathroom when the knocks sounded at the door, and Joe sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before going to open it. “Hey, guys,” he greeted pleasantly, raising his eyebrows appreciatively at what they were carrying. They hadn’t told him what they were going to buy, had only asked what he already had so there wouldn’t be any duplicates, but, from what little he could see, he could already tell they’d decided to utterly _spoil_ Rami.

He let them in as they returned his greeting, watching Ben’s slightly stilted gait and Gwil’s anxious fidgeting as they stepped inside and set their bags down on one of the two beds in the room. (He’d made sure the room he’d picked had a little kitchen nook and a tub in the bathroom, but the two mattresses seemed to’ve been a bonus. A bonus he was exploiting, since Ben and Gwil, if everything went well, were going to stay over that night with them.) “You guys good?” he asked, shutting the door.

“Yeah!” Ben said, not sounding very convincing, as Gwil ran his hand through his hair and looked around the room. “Just...” He sighed, slumping. “Just nervous.”

Before Joe could comment that, honestly, _he_ was nervous, too, Gwil asked, “Where’s Rami?”

“Bathroom,” he said, gesturing to the mostly-closed door and the light escaping through the crack as he moved over to his own bag of supplies. “I was about to go in after him to change him into his pajamas.” He looked down at his own, and then at Ben and Gwil’s jeans and button-ups and jackets. “You might wanna get changed, too. Loose things, comfy, y’know? You brought clothes for tonight, right?” At their nods, he continued, “Yeah, get changed now, then. Denim isn’t the most comfortable thing for sessions.”

They nodded again, looking at one another, and Joe left them to their own devices as he entered the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack the way Rami had.

Speaking of Rami, he was sitting on the toilet seat, rubbing one hand lightly on his cheek and staring out a bit blankly into thin air. He’d been trying to drop himself and hadn’t gotten all that far just yet. “Hey,” he said softly, setting the bag down on the sink counter and watching him blink and turn to him while he reached for a towel off the rack.

“Hi,” he said back, just as quiet, and dropped his hand into his lap as Joe spread the towel out on the tile floor.

“Ben and Gwil’re here,” he informed him, kneeling down in front of him so he could cup his face.

“I know; I heard.” Rami closed his eyes when Joe rubbed his thumbs over his cheeks and started humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, low and gentle. Within seconds Rami was leaning into him, and by the end of the song his eyes were fluttering back open and he was raising his hand to suck on his fingertips, whining softly in his throat.

Joe gave him a smile. “Hey, buddy. How you doing?”

Rami hummed, lifting his other arm to wrap around Joe’s shoulders as Joe tucked his hands under his armpits and brought him up with him when he got to his feet. Joe pressed a kiss to his forehead once they were upright – and his cheeks, and his eyelids, and the very tip of his nose, Rami giggling and beaming all the while. “Joey!”

“That’s my name; don’t wear it out,” he said cheekily, earning himself another round of giggles. He undressed Rami easily (and folded his clothes so he could place them back in the bag, because if he left them crumpled and wrinkled on the floor Rami would kill him later), and got Cocoa back out from between his bottle and pajamas to distract him from trying to crawl away while he was changed. After that, it was just a matter of situating him on the towel, applying the baby powder, doing up his diaper, and zipping up his duckie footie pajamas – a little difficult, once he got to the arms, since Rami very poutily didn’t wanna let go of Cocoa for even a moment, but Joe was able to rectify that by blowing raspberries on his tummy until he dropped her he was squealing so hard.

“There we go!” he said once the zipper was all the way up and Cocoa was back in his arms, helping sit him up. “How’s that, buddy?”

“Ya,” Rami said simply, moving to stuff his thumb in his mouth. Joe intercepted it before it could get there, making him whine a little.

“Oh, come on, Rams, it’s time for breakfast; you can’t suck your thumb for breakfast, that’s not healthy,” he told him, motioning for him to curl his arms around his shoulders and sliding his hands under his butt to pick him up and settle him against his front. Rami’s legs wrapped around him, as well, like a little koala, Cocoa squished between them as Joe used his elbow to shut off the light and open the door.

Ben and Gwil were sat on the edge of the bed closest to the bathroom in their sleep clothes, Gwil on his phone and Ben nodding off on Gwil’s arm, but they both jolted to attention once he entered the room. Joe just gave them both a look that had them wincing guiltily and nodded to the kitchen nook. “Have you two eaten yet?”

“Oh! Er, um, n-no, we haven’t,” Gwil said, he and Ben standing up to follow him to the table.

“Well, all we have is cereal, and it’s the really sugary American kind,” Joe snorted, depositing a squirmy Rami in the closest chair and shaking out his arms. He, unfortunately, didn’t have what could be called a _massive_ amount of upper body strength, and could only hold Rami for a few minutes at a time before his arms started aching. He hated that he couldn’t carry him around all the time during their sessions, but Rami never seemed to complain. “Actually, that’s a lie; we have cheerios,” he clarified, pushing Rami’s chair in as far as he could without making him uncomfortable while Ben and Gwil moved to sit in two of the other free chairs.

“I was about to ask,” Ben said wryly, taking the seat directly across from Rami, whose face was partially hidden behind Cocoa’s head. He was shyly looking between Ben and Gwil, who had taken one of the seats beside him and was very carefully _not_ returning his gaze, likely to keep from scaring or overwhelming him.

“I need to grab the bag from the bathroom,” he told them, raising a hand to pet Rami’s hair and leaning down to look him in the eye. “And I need to grab _your_ sippy cup, mister. Think you can watch these two troublemakers for me while I’m gone?”

That had Rami giggling into Cocoa’s fuzz and nodding his head and Ben and Gwil looking suitably offended. Gwil even lifted a hand to place over his heart like a distressed damsel. Joe fondly rolled his eyes before he pressed a parting kiss to Rami’s temple and turned on his heel.

In the three seconds it took to grab the bag and bring it back to the table, Ben and Gwil had started making faces at one another, to Rami’s clear delight, since he was positively bouncing in his seat with his laughter. Joe smiled as he set the bag on the table; he hadn’t been worried, but it was still nice to be proven right every now and again. “Glad to see you three getting along.”

“Joey!” Rami exclaimed, kicking his feet and hugging Cocoa tight. “Ceweal, pwease?”

“Of course, buddy!” Joe agreed, removing the aforementioned box of cheerios from the bag with a flourish and making Rami clap. “We’re all gonna have some. Can one of you get three bowls and spoons and one of you get the milk, please?” he addressed Ben and Gwil, who jumped at the chance to help so quickly they almost tripped over themselves and their chairs. It made Joe have to cover his mouth to keep from laughing and Rami laugh outright, and, by the time the bowls and spoons were distributed and milk fetched, Joe had situated Rami’s plastic Tigger plate and Blue’s Clues sippy cup in front of him and tied his duckie bib around his neck.

Breakfast was about what Joe had expected it to be: a little messy. Oh, he and Ben and Gwil’d finished theirs with little fanfare, but Joe’d given Rami his cheerios on his plate because he _knew_ that, if he’d had to eat it in a bowl with milk and a spoon, it’d get _everywhere_. The fact that it remained dry and Rami’d used his hands didn’t seem to make all that much of a difference, however; at least a third of them either wound up on his lap or on the floor, partially because he’d tried to give some to Cocoa with little success, and his mouth still wound up just _covered_ in crumbs that Joe had to wipe off, no matter how much he frowned and squirmed.

(His sippy cup, somehow, some way, had not been spilled even once while Rami was eating, which was a blessing.)

Once everything was cleaned up, though, it was time for the main event.

“Okay, Ram-Ram,” Joe said, throwing out the cheerios that had become casualties and seeing Ben mouth _“Ram-Ram”_ to himself with a look of absolute glee on his face out of the corner of his eye. “Ben and Gwil brought some stuff over for you today!”

Rami, whose thumb had migrated back to his mouth (and Joe just sighed when he saw it; he turned his back for _one second_ …), blinked big eyes at him before kicking his feet again and turning to Ben and Gwil, who were trying not to look nervous and not succeeding all that well. Gwil even awkwardly coughed into his fist, and Joe had to swallow a snort. “Ceweal?” Rami asked, muffled.

Joe couldn’t swallow his surprised snicker at Rami’s question the way he could his snort, though. “Er… no,” Ben said, sounding horribly amused. “We didn’t get you any cereal, sorry.”

“They didn’t tell me what they got you,” Joe told him, pulling Rami’s chair back out. “But I think they got you some pretty good stuff, buddy.” When Joe moved back around, Rami was starting to wiggle excitedly, grinning around his thumb. “We’re moving to the bed, now, ‘kay?”

Rami hummed, taking his thumb out of his mouth so he could lift his arm and wrap it around Joe’s shoulders without letting go of Cocoa when he bent to pick him up bridal style. With the bags Ben and Gwil had brought at the foot of the bed, Joe was able to gain enough momentum by rocking Rami in his arms to toss him onto the mattress. He landed in the middle giggling wildly, rolling onto his belly and squeezing Cocoa between him and the mattress. Joe crawled on after him to sit him up while Ben and Gwil settled down across from them. They were both still a little stiff (...maybe more than a _little_ stiff, to be fair), since they were now at the point where Rami could basically decide he wanted nothing to do with them if he didn’t like their gifts. Joe very much doubted that would happen, of course – especially since Rami was currently in a perfectly good mood and doing his very best to snuggle into his lap. Joe rearranged him to sit beside him instead while the other two shifted their bags so they could reach into them easier.

“So, ehm...” Gwil began, sharing a look with Ben, who just nodded his head for him to continue. “Well, the first things we got you were, um...”

He and Ben reached into separate bags at the same time and pulled out, respectively, a giraffe and a lion. The giraffe was just a little smaller than Cocoa, and had shorter, softer fur, but the lion was half Cocoa’s size at best, and had long, shiny, string-like fur everywhere but the mane, which had regular faux fur. It looked more like a ragdoll than a plush, since it wasn’t able to stand on its own the way the giraffe could.

Both were very, very cute, though, and, at the sight of them, Joe cooed under his breath and Rami gasped and immediately started squealing and making grabby-hands. Ben and Gwil, obviously not ones to disappoint, passed them over with no argument, and Rami held them at arm’s length once he had them in his grasp, one in each hand and Cocoa in his lap as he beamed at them. “Stuffies! _Joey!_ ” Rami turned to him, practically vibrating with excitement, and hugged all three plushes to his chest nice and tight. “ _Stuffies!_ ”

“Yeah, they got you stuffies, buddy!” Joe said, just as excited on Rami’s behalf, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and lightly shaking him. He glanced at Ben and Gwil just in time to see them positively sag with relief. “What’cha gonna name ‘em?”

“Um...” Rami shifted under Joe’s arm, looking back down at Cocoa and her new friends. “Ben… Biscuit.”

 _Oh my_ god _, that’s adorable._ “Okay,” Joe said, doing his best to hide his amusement. “So Ben’s lion is Biscuit?”

“Ya,” Rami said with a single definitive nod, and Joe bit his lip when he heard Ben let out a choked-off sound that could only be stifled laughter.

Rami then shook the giraffe a little. “’N Ginger!”

“Hm, a food theme, I see,” Joe said in a lofty kind of voice. “I like it – Cocoa, Biscuit, and Ginger!”

“Ya!” Rami nodded some more, then buried his face in the three plushes’ fur with another squeal, muffled this time. He even kicked his outstretched legs against the bed, he was so happy.

“I’m glad you like them, buddy, but Biscuit and Ginger aren’t the only things Ben and Gwil got you, remember?” Joe reminded him. There were two whole full bags ready and waiting to be emptied, and Joe could only imagine what the hell else they’d gotten him. ‘Spoiled’ probably wasn’t even strong enough of a word. “Do you wanna play with these three now or wait so you can find out what else they got you?”

“Now!” Rami announced, jerking his head up out of the fur it’d been buried in so he could talk properly. “Wait!”

“Rephrase, buddy.”

“Wait _now_ ,” Rami reemphasized, shifting again so all three plushes were secured in his arms. “Wanna wait.”

“That means the torch has been passed to _you two_ , gentlemen,” he addressed Ben and Gwil, who straightened up a little, now that the focus was back on them. “This better be _go-od_.”

“ _Well_ ,” Gwil said, after rolling his eyes. “We got him some clothes and a blanket, but–“

“Bankie?” Rami gasped, and started bouncing up and down again. “Bankie! Bankie!”

Gwil reached back into his bag and removed a folded, fleece blanket that, even from here, Joe could see had a quilt-like design on it. It wasn’t actually a quilt, of course, the pattern was basically just printed on it, but the fleece looked very soft and warm and it looked like it was a million different colors.

Rami seemed perfectly _thrilled_ when Gwil held it out for him, but, when he looked down at the stuffed animals in his arms, he whined and turned big doe eyes to Joe, who let out a fond sigh and took the blanket from Gwil instead. Rami clearly didn’t want to let go of his new plushes just yet, even for a blanket.

He waved the fabric out once he had it in his hands so he could tuck it around Rami’s shoulders and wrap it all up around him like a cocoon, just enough to make him hum happily. His legs were still free, but all that was left of him that was visible was his ruffled curls, his squinted eyes, and his very toothy grin.

“We got us all matching pajamas, as well,” Ben spoke up for the first time. His words took Joe by surprise, and Ben nodded back at the inquisitive look he was sure he was giving him. “Footed ones. Got Rami _two_ pairs, ‘course.” They both looked very proud, at that, and Rami, in response, started vibrating again with excitement.

This time Gwil’s bag was rummaged through again and seemed to mostly empty when the five pairs of footed pajamas were removed and handed out. The one Gwil kept had a blue camouflage pattern, while Ben’s was covered in race cars, Rami’s, where they laid in his lap, had one with a bunch of tiny bears in bowties on it and the other with a design that could only be described as something one would see on the floor of a bowling alley, and Joe’s…

He sighed.

His was covered in _dinosaurs_.

When he looked back up at the perpetrators, their expressions were what could only be described as _terribly smug_. He could only imagine how deadpan _he_ looked right now. (At least _Rami_ was pleased.)

“We bought books, too,” Gwil said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Two of them. Sort of a boring kind of gift, I suppose, but–”

“We got toys to balance them out! And slippers, we also got slippers,” Ben finished, reaching into his own bag for the first time since taking Biscuit out to brandish a pair of fluffy purple slippers that were clearly, _clearly_ meant to resemble a monster’s foot, with three black claws on each one. The sight of them made Rami giggle, and after Ben passed them over to Joe he delved back into the bag to bring out some toy cars, ranging from the size of his forearm to the size of his palm, four altogether and all different colors and styles. After lining all those up on the bed and getting Rami to coo while he investigated them, he reached back in and took out–

Joe rolled his eyes so hard they actually ached slightly at the sight of the first of _six_ dinosaur figures. The biggest was a plastic T-rex whose mouth could open and close and legs could move, and the smallest were two raptors that were completely stationary and in the same pose, but in different colors. There was also a brontosaurus, a triceratops, and a stegosaurus – the quintessential dinosaur set, he supposed. He swore to himself to get back at them somehow when he saw them have to visibly stifle their laughter at Joe’s expression. _Little shits._

Gwil took the last items from _his_ bag out and set the two books down along with the toys – Frog and Toad and The Velveteen Rabbit, both classics and, luckily, both books Joe didn’t have yet. Goodnight Moon was his go-to when Rami couldn’t get to sleep at bedtime, but those two would be perfect for settling him down for his nap.

With the toy cars, the dino figures, and the books placed on the bedspread in front of Rami, the slippers resting in Joe’s lap, the blanket tucked around Rami’s body, and his new plushes in his arms, it was silent for several seconds as Rami looked between them all and they waited for him to say something.

Then, he whined low in his throat and started blinking rapidly, and Joe, noticing the signs, went into _immediate_ soothe-the-baby mode.

“Oh, hey, hey hey hey,” he cooed, using the arm he had around him to pull him in against his side and run his fingers through his hair. “You’re alright, buddy, you’re alright.” He didn’t need to look to know Ben and Gwil were devastated; it had to be harder assuming the worst after you’d already thought you were in the clear.

He wasn’t quite able to stop the waterworks from flowing, though, and seeing him start to cry made his chest ache. “C’mon, Rams, what’s wrong, huh?” Joe asked, rubbing his thumb into Rami’s shoulder.

His lower lip wobbled dangerously before he sniffled and closed his eyes to rub at them. He wasn’t full-blown bawling, or wailing in distress; he just couldn’t seem to stop the tears from welling up and sliding down his cheeks. “Nuffin’...”

“Nothing?” Joe repeated, puzzled. “Then why’re you...”

He wasn’t able to finish his thought before Rami sniffled again, clogged and snotty. “Happy...”

“...You’re crying ‘cause you’re happy?” Joe clarified, glancing Ben and Gwil’s way and watching as their expressions seemed to change from despondent to hopeful in two seconds flat. He assumed _his_ had similarly turned from worried to relieved, as well.

“Uh-huh,” Rami said, nodding fervently before lowering his head to hug all three stuffed animals in his lap closer and bury his face in their fur. When he mumbled something into them, Joe had to duck closer and listen carefully to understand.

“Oh – he said thank you,” he translated, smiling when they both slumped as the tension was cut like that. Ben even flopped down on his back with a quiet groan, and Gwil sat rubbing his temples for a few moments. He took a second to scold himself for not expecting this to happen – Rami _always_ got overwhelmed easily in littlespace, from positive and negative emotions both, he should’ve _known_ he’d cry about receiving so many gifts at once – before pressing a kiss to Rami’s hair and gently shaking him. He was starting to calm down, now. “You ready to pick something to play with, bud? You got a lotta options, after all, and Ben and Gwil’re here to help.”

Rami lifted his head out of his stuffed animals and sniffled again, using both hands to rub at his eyes. He made a tiny noise of discomfort, and Joe looked to Ben, who had shifted up onto his elbows. “Can you go get a warm washcloth and hand towel, please?” Ben was off the bed and back with the items in question in probably less than twenty seconds, and once he had it Joe used the rag to wipe Rami’s face clean while he scrunched up his nose and frowned poutily. It didn’t make his eyes any less red and swollen when he opened them after Joe pulled away, or his cheeks any less pink, but at least his face wasn’t wet and sticky with tears and snot anymore after he’d patted it dry with the towel.

“Good?” he asked, and when Rami nodded, slowly at first but with more energy as he went on, starting to look excited again, he beamed. “Good!”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the end! I may write more I'm not sure yet, but I do have an idea about rami gettin sick... poor thing. but do enjoy!

The rest of the day passed with much less fuss and much more giggles. The few hours between breakfast and lunch were taken up first by Rami trying to fit Ginger into one of his new toy cars (with Gwil trying to help… and very little success), then by Rami making it look like Cocoa and Biscuit were eating the dinosaur figures (to Joe’s _immense_ satisfaction and a verbal, “You’re doing _great_ , Ram-Ram,” that earned him a blinding grin – and some grumpy grumbles from the peanut gallery). Joe had packed Rami’s alphabet blocks from his trailer for that day, too, and when he’d taken them out they’d all spent the rest of the time before lunch helping Rami (and Cocoa, and Biscuit, and Ginger) build them up as high as he could just so he could knock them down.

Lunch was PB-n-J’s, pretzels, and apple juice (once again in a certain sippy cup). Rami’s sandwich had strawberry jam and creamy peanut butter because he was a _heathen_ who _didn’t like crunchy_. Every time Joe made it for him he’d make a face and scrunch his nose up and stick his tongue out and Rami would giggle until he had a hiccuping fit, and this time was no different. (Ben _also_ only liked creamy peanut butter, because he was also a heathen and no longer his friend.) As he expected, PB-n-J led to him having to clean off Rami’s face. And hands. And _hair_. How he managed to keep his clothes and Cocoa, Biscuit, and Ginger free of anything sticky was anyone’s guess.

After lunch, though, was nap time. (... _After_ bossing Ben and Gwil around to get them to tidy up the toys and fluff up the bed while he changed Rami in the bathroom. He was going to milk the extra hands he had available as long as he could.) All four of them settled down on the bed: Gwil on one end on his back, then Rami, cuddled up into Joe’s side suckling on his pacifier with all three plushes in his arms, and then Ben on Joe’s other side, all of them quietly listening as he read Frog and Toad aloud til Rami was snuffling in his sleep.

At the first sign of tiny, tiny snores, Joe sighed and shut the book one-handed with a soft snap. His other hand was busy gently petting Rami’s hair. “Am I getting old, or is it okay to _also_ wanna nap?”

Ben snorted on his other side and rolled into him hard enough to get him to grunt. Rami was completely unaffected, and just snuggled further into Joe and his stuffies. “Nah,” he said thickly. “I do, too.”

“So do I,” Gwil yawned, raising a hand to rub up and down Rami’s back. His eyes were closed when Joe glanced over at him, leaning against the pillows. “Who knew taking care of a baby was this exhausting.”

It came out as more of a statement than a question, but it made Joe snort either way. “I did.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s true.”

That had Ben snickering quietly into Joe’s shoulder before they all hunkered down to join Rami in slumber.

Joe woke back up to Rami squealing and Ben laughing, and had to squint and rub his eyes so his vision wasn’t blurry anymore to see what was going on. What was going on was Ben, standing a few feet from the bed he and Gwil were still laying on, holding Rami up above his head from under his armpits while Rami wiggled and kicked his legs. As he watched, pushing himself up onto his elbow (and being careful not to squish Cocoa, Biscuit, or Ginger in the process), Ben carefully lowered Rami down so that his toes were almost touching the floor and then lifted him back up quickly enough and with enough strength that Rami was thrown up into the air before getting caught under his armpits again. Every time he went airborne he’d squeal with delight, and every time he was caught he’d giggle so hard it made Ben laugh, too. It wasn’t a surprise Joe’d woken up, with how loud they were being.

He was only moderately surprised to find Gwil still fast asleep, because the man could probably sleep through an earthquake with little to no problem.

Joe was just starting to contemplate how to wake him up without being _too_ loud when Rami gasped and brought his attention right back his way. He was positively _beaming_ at Joe over Ben’s head, squirming and making little fists. It made Ben throw his own head over his shoulder to investigate. “Joey! Joey! Ben, Joey!”

“Yeah, Ram-Ram, I can see that,” Ben chuckled, lowering Rami to situate him in his arms on his hip and walking closer at the same time. Joe had a moment to be jealous of Ben’s upper body strength before rolling over into an upright position with a grunt, reaching forward to capture one of Rami’s hands once Ben was close enough.

“Guess you had a good nap, then, huh, bud?” he asked him, smiling when Rami squeezed his hand back. “Was Ben a good playmate?” His smile turned into a smirk when he saw Ben blush a little; he’d been caught red-handed, and Joe was _never_ going to let him live down how he’d been _having fun_.

“Ya!” Rami said, shaking their clasped hands around before pulling on it. “Up! Up!” Ben shifted his arms around him when he started to wiggle mightily to make sure he didn’t drop him. “Color!”

“You wanna color?” It was a good thing he still had his books and crayons in his bag, or else they’d be shit outta luck.

“Ya!”

“You got it, buddy.”

It took another half hour for Gwil to wake up and join them – and that was only after Joe and Ben convinced Rami to start drawing on his face. The crayons didn’t quite stick as well as marker would’ve, but they left enough behind for Gwil to have to wash it off. (He’d given he and Ben a very dry look as they snickered about it, but just ruffled Rami’s hair and told him he’d done a very good job on his way to the bathroom, so they were in the clear. _For now._ )

It was a bit longer after that before Rami decided he wanted to watch The Princess and The Frog again (it was his favorite movie, after all), so they all settled back down on the bed with Cocoa, Biscuit, and Ginger while Joe worked the television across from them to connect to his phone and play it. It was a better solution than trying to get them all to watch it comfortably _on_ his phone, since its screen was something like… twenty times smaller than the television’s.

Halfway through it, though, Joe heard Rami’s tummy start rumbling, and heard him whimper quietly as he started to rub it, so they paused to have dinner: chicken nuggets, baby carrots, and water. Rami and Joe had honey mustard with theirs while Ben and Gwil had ketchup ( _heathens_ ), and it was, like lunch, quite messy, but Rami didn’t get any mustard in his hair so, as far as he was concerned, it was a _much_ better meal.

He’d booked this hotel room specifically because it had a tub, and he was going to exploit it for as long as he could, which meant Rami was getting a bath. He left the other two to clean up while he carried Rami into the bathroom along with his bag and set him down on the toilet. (He’d also grabbed the little bears in bowties footie pajamas Ben and Gwil had gotten him too, just because.)

“Alright, Ram-Ram,” he said, turning the taps on and testing the temperature. Cocoa, Biscuit, and Ginger were seated on the sink counter, close enough that Rami didn’t feel abandoned but far enough that he wouldn’t try to drag them into the water with him once the time came. “It’s bath time.”

“Baff!” Rami repeated, clapping his hands. Joe was lucky he _liked_ baths, or else this would be a far less pleasant experience.

“Yup, bath,” Joe confirmed, standing back up to bring Rami to his feet off the toilet and undress him... no matter how much he squirmed and told him, “No!” through his giggles.

“What, you wanna get in the bath in your jammies?” Joe asked, knowing what the answer would be already as he lowered the zipper.

“Eww!” Rami said, patting his hands on Joe’s shoulders. “No!”

“ _Well_ , then I’m taking them off–“

“No!”

The second his tummy was bared, Joe leant forward and blew a giant raspberry on it, and Rami burst out laughing. He was easy to undress, after that.

Once he was settled in the tub and the water was turned off, Joe immediately cupped his hands to pour over Rami’s hair to wet it (after telling him to shut his eyes) before squirting a dollop of hotel shampoo into his hand and lathering it into his curls. He didn’t have any bubble bath to add, or any of Rami’s buoyant bath toys, as they were all still at his house because he hadn’t thought to bring them along when he’d packed for the shoot, but Rami didn’t seem to mind. He entertained himself perfectly fine by slapping at the water and kicking his feet and splashing hard enough to send waves of it outside the tub. Joe, no matter how soaked he got as a result, couldn’t bring himself to mind; it was his own fault for not bringing any of Rami’s bath toys for him to play with instead, after all.

(He _did_ give him a bubble beard with the soap from the washrag once he got to that part, though, which had Rami hiccuping with laughter again after he showed him what he looked like in a hand mirror.)

(Even if he sneezed most of them away afterward.)

The bath was over and done with in something like twenty minutes – short enough that the water hadn’t really gone lukewarm yet, but long enough that Rami’s fingers were just starting to go pruney. He was also letting out tiny little squeaky yawns and rubbing at his eyes as Joe rinsed him off, which meant he was just about ready for bedtime. Guess they weren’t finishing the movie after all.

The tub was drained and Rami dried off with the fluffiest towel Joe could find, which made his curls stand on end, and _that_ made him giggle again when he saw it in the bathroom mirror. In quick succession born from experience, Rami was powdered, diapered, clothed, and reunited with the plushes that had been watching over him while he was in the tub (who were met with a delighted, “Ya!” once they were all in his grasp once again) in only a few short minutes. By the time Joe himself had changed into the other pair of sleep clothes he’d brought along in the baby bag since they were, y’know, _dry_ , and they finally, _finally_ exited the bathroom with Rami firmly in his arms (it was only a few feet to the bed, after all), Ben and Gwil'd finished tidying up and were laid down on the other bed, Gwil on his phone, Ben on his stomach with his head buried in the pillow, and the only light on in the room the lamp between their mattresses and the still-on television.

Gwil looked up when they came in, but Joe just raised his eyebrows at him. “Could you turn the TV off, please?” he whispered to him once he was close enough, not wanting to be too loud in fear of bringing Rami back to full wakefulness and, in turn, full fussiness.

He settled him down on the free bed they were going to be sharing that night as Gwil rolled to his feet to do as he was told, and Rami let out another little yawn and nuzzled into the sheets under him once he was able to. Joe was quick to scurry around snatching up the blanket Ben and Gwil had given him earlier, as well as his pacifier, before taking his bottle and filling it with milk and then heating _that_ up for a hot second in the microwave. Rami was so sleepy he probably could’ve gotten away with not giving him his bedtime bottle, but he _always_ did, and he wasn’t about to stop now – and Rami certainly seemed to appreciate it, since he perked up a little once Joe showed it to him and brought him into his lap.

After the bottle was empty and he'd pat his back and burped him, making him yawn again and rub at his eyes with his fists, he quietly said, “Say night-night, Ram-Ram,” and glanced over at Gwil (and Ben, who was mostly hidden behind him and only lifted his head a little at the words, and already looked mostly asleep).

“Nigh-nigh,” Rami whispered, letting Joe give him his pacifier and starting to gently suckle on it as he rearranged them on the bed to tuck the blanket around them both. Instead of being in his lap, now, he was curled into his side, his three stuffed animals in his arms, and he fell asleep within moments, letting out tiny snuffling snores through his nose into Joe’s shirt. Joe, feeling just as tired, looked back over at Gwil with squinted eyes and mouthed for him to shut the lamp off. With Ben’s head buried back in the pillow, Gwil did so with a silent thumbs-up, and soon, the only light in the room was coming from the streetlamps that were able to peek through the curtains and the dull glow of Gwil’s phone.

Joe was out cold in a few more minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me what you think! I thrive on comments. even a simple 'cute' would be AWESOME


End file.
